Deciding where you are going to live after the divorce

On behalf of Jaspers, Moriarty & Wetherille, P.A. posted in Divorce on Monday, November 13, 2017.

When you are in a divorce, there are many major decisions to make. As a CBS MoneyWatch article notes, one of the more fundamental ones is the decision of where to live moving forward.

There are generally two main choices for a post-divorce living situation. You could either keep living at the home you were in during the marriage, or you could move to a new place. Each of these routes has a set of additional decisions connected to it.

If you decide to pursue staying in the marital home, there are decisions to make on what sort of arrangements to try to reach with one's ex regarding things such as the ownership of the home and who will cover mortgage payments moving forward. If you decide instead to move to a new place, there are decisions such as whether to buy a new home or instead to rent a place.

These decisions can have big implications for a divorcing individual and their family. So there are many things to consider when it comes to these decisions.

You and your family's space needs

For one, it can be critical to think about what your space needs are and what post-divorce housing option would best fit these needs. If you are a divorcing parent, an important thing to factor in when determining such needs is what sort of custody arrangement you are planning on pursuing. If you are seeking to have the kids live with you for a good chunk of the time, it can be crucial to think about what sort of housing would be best for this.

The financial implications of housing-related decisions in a divorce

What you decide on where to live following a divorce could also have significant ramifications on your financial security. So, when weighing out the different options, it can be important to give careful thought to:

What costs are associated with each option. This includes things like maintenance costs and tax liabilities.

How feasible each option would be, given the changes in your overall financial situation that will come with the divorce.

How consistent each option would be with your financial goals for your post-divorce life.

The marital home and your property division goals

When deciding things such as whether to pursue the marital home in property division proceedings, it can be important to look at the full picture. This not only includes your housing-related goals, but your overall property division goals. This is because what stance a person takes regarding the marital home in such proceedings could affect his or her bargaining position for other property division issues that are important to him or her, such as those regarding investment portfolios or retirement assets.

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